Persuasion (2007) and The Complete Jane Austen News Roundup: Everyone’s Got An Opinion Edition
Welcome to all the new (and delurking) visitors to AustenBlog! We’re really enjoying the lively discussion of the new adaptation of Persuasion. As a compare and contrast, here’s the opinion and discussion thread from the original broadcast in the UK last year.
Fellow-ette is liveblogging each of the broadcasts, starting with Persuasion.
9:45 Me: “Where have we seen Wenthworth before?” My boyfriend, “In an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog?” Snark. UPDATE: True Answer: He played St. John Rivers, and Jane Eyre dumped him for Rochester/Ciaran Hinds in the ‘97 Jane Eyre. Which is weird because he’s now lost out to Ciaran in two (count’em, TWO) separate categories.
Ouch!
The New Yorker has a rather snarky article (but snarky in a way that makes us roll our eyes–we’ve heard it all before, ripped bodices yada yada yada) It’s mostly interesting for one of the first reviews of Miss Austen Regrets.
And now we come to “Miss Austen Regrets,” a ghastly misfire—one does enjoy finding a use for that phrase now and again—which presents Austen in the same reductive way that is often resorted to when an inadequate imagination sets about dramatizing an interesting woman’s life. Austen comes across as witty, disappointed, proud, smart, a symbol, a cautionary tale, a heroine, a loser—everything but a person. (It’s a Judy Davis role, played here by Olivia Williams.)
Jane Austen inspires girls for many reasons, one of which is that they sense that, as a Times piece about “Becoming Jane” put it last year, an Austen heroine is “not afraid to be the smartest person in the room.” Any girl who watches “Miss Austen Regrets” could only be very, very afraid of such a fate.
Hmm! We’ll see in a few weeks. 
The Washington Post has an article anticipating the new adaptations, with the usual commentary about “purists:”
Fans of Austen constantly argue over which of her books is best, as do fans of the screen adaptations. Purists will be picky — arguments erupted recently about whether it was remotely feasible to ever see an Austen heroine dancing a waltz.
Most likely not, if you were wondering.
Kate on MSN’s TV Blog wonders why Jane Austen can’t be more like Gossip Girl?
So, basically, I think Persuasion was ridiculously abridged and made caricatures of its characters. Why couldn’t it have been more like”Gossip Girl”? “Gossip Girl,” seriously? Well, it’s another adaptation of a book in the same vein: manners, treachery, boys, clothes. The pilot of “Gossip Girl” did an excellent job adapting the manners and mores of the books into a one hour drama, and the show has continued to be excellent. It’s not a 100% faithful adaptation, but maybe that’s what makes it great.
Never having seen Gossip Girl, we have no idea.
Hollywood Today has an interesting take on last night’s TV faceoff between Persuasion and The Sarah Connor Chronicles:
Under Terminator canon, the answer seems obvious. In ‘T2: Judgement Day,’ Arnold says, “I am a cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal endoskeleton.” But, is it prudent to trust the word of a murderous machine? Maybe not. A robot is a machine that resembles a human being and is often subject to another’s will. A cyborg is a human being whose functions are controlled or aided by mechanical or electrical systems. The Borg are clearly cyborgs, augmented humans under collective self-control. Terminator, on the other hand, is an autonomous robot controlled by Skynet. If the external living tissue of Terminator qualify it as a cyborg, then the external mental control exerted over Ann Elliott’s actions in ‘Persuasion’ should qualify her as a robot. However, ‘Persuasion’ is far from being the story of a robot.
Have to agree with that! Thanks to Alert Janeite Lisa for several of these links.
We have lots of other non-movie stuff to post, which we will do tonight, so stay tuned, Janeites! And a reminder: we’re really busy so the spam filter is freaking out a little. Be patient if you get caught–we are keeping an eye on things and will get you out eventually!
January 15th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Wow. I just re-read the thread that followed the UK airing. It seems that unabridged version is more popular than the abridged version that PBS viewers were treated to.
This was my 3rd viewing of the film. The first was the UK version and the 2nd and 3rd were the PBS version. I confess to liking it somewhat the first time, but was grossly disappointed with the 2nd and 3rd times. I did watch P95 last night and it was as wonderful as ever, and perhaps I’ll whip out my region 2 DVD of P07 to see if putting back the missing scenes changes my opinion.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
It seems that everyone certainly does have an opinion about Persuasion if we are to use the 100+ comments from one of the previous posts as evidence. Sheesh. I hated the diary scenes and Anne looking at the camera all the time, if you want my opinion.
January 15th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Having re-read all the comments from both the previous post and the more recent one, I think we can fairly say there’s one thing that was disapproved universally, which is the last 10 minutes, with the running, the butchered letter, the kiss (urgh) and Wentworth’s ‘present’ of Kellynch hall. The only difference lay in the degree of dislike…personally I hated it and it ruined what was seeming like a very good adaptation. I just can’t forgive what was done with the letter scene, including the talk Anne has with Harville…
January 17th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Having read Rebecca Eaton’s remarks about these ITV JA films, I think that PBS/WGBH will approach their future projects more carefully. It seems like they are sorry that they ever got involved with ITV. I think it’s good that they recognize this. But I’m sorry to see so many people stating they intend to withhold their financial support of Masterpiece Classics.
I realize that there is more going on beneath the surface than a lot of people aare aware of (yes, some people/companies are getting rich off of public television). However, I remember how Cranford nearly wasn’t made because Universal (U.S.) pulled out their funding a few years ago, and without their support, BBC cancelled the project. We’re fortunate that it was revived (with the assistance of funding from WGBH’s Masterpiece). Therefore, I do not intend to stop voting for Masterpiece Classics with my checkbook.
January 17th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Maisy: do you have a link to these comments? I haven’t got that vibe, myself…but I do hope they are more careful about future projects, yes.
January 17th, 2008 at 9:08 am
They were gleaned from posts I’ve read on RoP, IMDb and (? can’t remember the third place) posted by people who attended the preview events in NYC.
January 17th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Thanks, Maisy! That’s really interesting. I would love to have been a fly on the wall at the pitch meetings for WGBH.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:34 am
While I didn’t enjoy Anne constantly looking into the camera and I can understand the disappointment with the final 10 minutes, I thought the adaptation in general was very good. My enjoyment could have something to do with the fact that I find Rupert Penry Jones much more appealing than Ciran Hinds.
I do have a quibble or two with the intro by Gillian Anderson. One, I dislike her being stuck in front of a plain background. Two, if they insist on doing that they should at least change the color. Red just doesn’t look good.
I’m looking forward to the Northanger Abbey adaptation. It’s the only book I haven’t seen adapted. Unless you count my inability to watch Gwynth Paltrow’s Emma in its entirety.